Wait, Pray and Worship

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley, and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Today's reading

comes from Axe. chapter 1 verse 1 to 8 and chapter

2 verse 1 to 4. The promise of the Holy Spirit.

In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about

everything Jesus began to do and teach until

the day he was taken up to heaven after giving

his chosen apostles further instructions through

the Holy Spirit. During the 40 days after he

suffered and died, He appeared to the apostles

from time to time, and He proved to them in many

ways that He was actually alive. And He talked

to them about the kingdom of God. Once when He

was eating with them, He commanded them, Do not

leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the

gift He promised, as I told you before. John

baptized with water, but in just a few days you

will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So when

the apostles were with Jesus they kept asking

him Lord has the time come for you to free Israel

and restore our kingdom He replied the father

alone has the authority to set those dates and

times and they are not for you to know But you

will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes

upon you and you will be my witnesses Telling

people about me everywhere in Jerusalem throughout

Judea in Samaria and to the ends of the earth

the Holy Spirit comes. On the day of Pentecost

all the believers were meeting together in one

place. Suddenly there was a sound from heaven

like the roaring of a mighty windstorm and it

filled the house where they were sitting. Then

what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared

and settled on each of them and everyone present

was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking

in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them

this ability. This is the word of God. Thanks,

Thomas. Hi. Hey, if I don't know you, my name's

Jenny and I am one of the pastors here. I say

it in kind of prospect, but in kind of Adelaide,

really, which is a bit fun. And it is so good

to all be in the house together today. In the

scripture there it said, they were all gathered

in the one place. And I thought, that's us. That's

us today, praise the Lord. Hey, happy Pentecost,

right? It's like saying happy birthday church.

And every time we say happy birthday, we get

cake, right? Yeah, so I'm giving you all permission

to have cake because it's Pentecost. Hey, before

I get into this, just why does one have an excuse

to have cake, really? Before I get into the word,

let me just pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you

that you are here with us today. Lord, I know

that your word is all we need. And so Heavenly

Father, I pray today as I speak, Lord God, will

it be your word, Lord God? And will you bring

the scriptures alive in our life, Lord God, as

we look at how to follow you? Come Holy Spirit

and be in this place as I bring the word in Jesus

name. Amen. Amen. Hey, so it is Pentecost, which

is very exciting. But many of you might not know

what Pentecost is. In Christian circles, we talk

about Pentecost being when the Holy Spirit came.

But Pentecost was actually a festival that the

Jewish people used to attend. So they would travel

to thousands all over, from all over the world,

would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate a thing

called Shavuot. I'm so sorry if you're Jewish

in the room. I would have pronounced that terribly.

But this was a time when they celebrated the

10 commandments that Moses that Moses was given

on Mount Sinai, about 50 days after they left

Egypt. So this moment, this day that they celebrate

was actually a really pivotal moment in their

relationship with God. And the same thing goes

for us here now today. As we celebrate Pentecost,

it's a real pivotal... point in our calendar

that we celebrate and that we remember the Holy

Spirit coming. So it's a really important day.

We don't just brush over this day as an extra

Sunday that we have. It's actually really important

to press into Pentecost and what that actually

means for us. But we always talk about the Holy

Spirit coming, but very rarely do we talk about

what happened just before the Holy Spirit came.

And so I'm going to start there tonight. Now,

for those of you who don't know me very well,

I'm a very impatient person, right? I'm like

Jess, my best friend is just laughing at her.

Yeah, I'm very, I'm quite impatient. I'm the

kind of person that when I am ready to go, I

am out in my car with the car started and it

doesn't matter whether all the lights in the

house are on and all the doors are open and my

husband's in there turning them all off. Am I

right Mike? It doesn't matter because I'm ready

to go and that is what matters. Yes, it is. I

am... I've worked out this week that I have a

lot of traits that are very similar to a toddler.

I don't know if that's a good thing or not. But

if you ever have a toddler or you know of a toddler,

you know that when they are deciding they want

to put their shoes on, they're going to put their

shoes on. And there's nothing you can do about

that, whether you are late to the event or not.

And then when they decide they're going, they

go and they will drag you and take your hand

and you have no ability to stop them because

they're a toddler. And no one can scream like

a toddler, except possibly me. It's funny, it's

kind of inbuilt in us some ways to be impatient,

right? Some of you, I'm sure, are a lot more

patient than I am. But I think there's something

inside of us that we all are a little bit impatient,

right? I think we don't really like waiting on

things. So something, preach this text. I tried

to look up this week how long we wait for in

our life, right? You know, how there's stats

and all that kind of stuff. And I don't know

if it's because some people live in the country

and some people live in New York, but the internet

cannot get it right. So as anything from six

months through to five years of our life, we

spend waiting. So that's a long time. We wait

in lines, we wait for people, we wait for traffic,

we wait for... web pages to load, if you're like

me, you need a better internet server. Waiting

can be frustrating. And so what do we do when

we're waiting? I think for most of us, we've

been waiting for a little while. we start to

get frustrated, right? We start to go, okay,

I've waited, I've done it on your timing. I'm

now a little bit frustrated. I'm just gonna do

it on my own timing. I'm just gonna go and step

out and do whatever I wanna do because I've been

waiting a long time for you and there's only

so long we can wait. And so I want us to think

about how hard it is for us to wait. And then

we're gonna jump into acts. Throughout Acts,

we hear about the work of the Holy Spirit. We

also hear about the building up of his church.

But in Acts 1, we get to hear a little bit, Luke

talks a little bit about Jesus's last interactions

with the disciples. And in those last interactions

with the disciples, one of the things he says

is, guys, I want you to wait. Now they've been

with Jesus for 40 days. So three years and then

he rose again. He died and rose again. And then

he was on the earth for around about 40 days.

And they've been with him for about 40 days and

he's been teaching them. And it's what an experience.

What a time to be alive, right? To be alive.

Your Savior, the one that you knew and that you

had loved and you'd walked with, had died and

then he had rose again. It's pretty exciting

time. I reckon these 40 days would have been

very exciting. And I think about how they would

have been like, you know what, we've, you know,

Jesus is here and he's about to go up to heaven

and we're going to be sent out and it's going

to be great. I just imagine when they're in Matthew

28, when he does the Great Commission, he's saying,

hey, guys, I'm commissioning you to go out into

the world to make disciples of all nations and

proclaim the good news of Jesus wherever you

go and let the Holy Spirit come and lead you.

And they would have been like, amen and hallelujah.

Am I right? Absolutely, they would have been.

They would have been so excited. So in that moment,

Jesus is about to go up to heaven. And he's like,

yep, you guys, you've got this, right? I'm going

to send you out. You're going to go out. You're

going to create disciples. You're going to see

miracles. It's going to be wonderful. But also,

wait. Hang on, Jesus. Like, what? What do you

mean wait? Like, I mean, we're three years with

you, mate. Like, we've seen the miracles. You

told us we're going out to make disciples. You

told us what to do. Like, why can't we go? And

Jesus says, wait. Now, as I'm getting older,

I am learning to wait a little bit longer. But

there's a part of me that desperately wants to

move forward. And I imagine in that moment there's

a part of the disciples who desperately wanted

to move forward. But they didn't. They chose

to wait on the Lord. In Acts 1, Jesus says very,

very clearly, do not leave Jerusalem but wait

for the gift my father promised which you have

heard me speak about for John baptized with water

but in a few days you'll be baptized with the

Holy Spirit. So the disciples had that choice

and they made their choice to wait but then they

had to choose what are they gonna do in that

waiting. Friends what do you do in the waiting?

Do you get like me and get a little bit frustrated

and honk the horn and be like come on it doesn't

take that long to turn off lights? Or do you

just like actually put your car into reverse

and drive out? I've never done that. What do

you do when you're in the waiting? Friends when

I was 11 years old I was listening to an audio

tape of a woman preaching or speaking or something

and I felt very clearly the Lord say I am calling

you to pastoral ministry. I was 11. I didn't

step into my calling into pastoral ministry as

my vocation until I was 33 years old. 22 years

I waited. 22 years I knew what God was calling

me to and I waited for Him to release me in that.

But I didn't in those 22 years sit on my butt

and just like grumble at God, like I probably

did grumble at God a little bit, but I did things.

I pressed into God. I worked on my character.

I worked on my relationship with God and I stayed

very close to the church and to God. Well, He

kept me very close. And when He released me,

was I fully ready? No. No, I was not, but I was

empowered by the Holy Spirit to go out and do

what He had called me to do. And in this job,

you need that. Friends, the disciples, when Jesus

said, wait, they didn't go back to their homes

and sit and do nothing. They went to a home together.

It says they were all together. So there was

probably about 120 people or so. It would have

been a room probably about this, I don't know,

the room was this size. The room might have been

much smaller, but it would have been about this

amount of people probably in that room. And they

went there and they prayed and they worshiped.

In Acts 1 it says, they all joined together consistently

in prayer along with the women and Mary and the

mother of Jesus and his brothers. So friends,

what is your posture when God says, wait? Will

you worship till you see the promises fulfilled?

What if your promise takes longer than a year?

Will you wait? Will you worship? What if it takes

five years? Will you wait? Will you worship?

What would it look like if this church decided

to wait and to pray and to worship till we saw

the promises that God has put before us? Friends,

I think for many of us, we have a set time where

we're okay to worship God, right? Between 3 and

4 .30 or 4 and 5 .30 depending on which site

you're at or 10 to 11 .15. We have a set time

that we worship God and heaven forbid that God

might want to move outside of that time. And

unfortunately, friends, I think we need to repent

of that mindset because God is actually calling

us as a church to worship at every single opportunity

that we have in our life. In the waiting, the

disciples decided to pray. In the waiting, we

are called to pray. Friends, when we pray, mountains

move. When we worship, strongholds break. When

the Holy Spirit moves, lives are transformed.

When the disciples began to pray, they saw something

miraculous happen. And they prayed and they waited

and they prayed and they waited. And this was

all before the Holy Spirit was poured out. I

think it's really interesting that this week

in particular, our church has been seeing a move

of God. I have heard stories this week of miracles.

I have heard stories this week of people speaking

in tongues for the first time. I've heard people

interpreting tongues in this church. I've heard

of people that have been a part of ministries

that have seen hundreds, lots of salvations this

week. I think it was 25, which is still amazing,

right? Like that's amazing. We have seen prophecies.

We have seen people meeting people in stores

who just needed that conversation. We have seen

God moment after God moment after God moment

this week. And I truly believe that those moments

are happening because it's coming out of our

willingness as a church to pray. It's no coincidence

that over the last year we have seen the prayer

life at Encounter Adelaide grow. We have now

a dedicated prayer space down at Henley. We've

had 24 seven prayer days. We have a women's prayer

group that is fire by the way, if you ever wanna

get there. We have a 7 a .m. that every day people

meet and pray online. This church is a church

that prays. And I've noticed as we've been praying

over this last year, the spiritual temperature

of our church has grown. When we pray, something

shifts. But friends, if you're in a time of waiting,

sometimes we pray for a little bit, but then

we get downhearted, right? And we stop praying.

Friends, when the disciples were in that room

together, they didn't have to wait long. It was

about, probably about 10 days they waited for,

but they prayed. And they stayed in that attitude

of prayer. And do you know what? I have a feeling,

that even if had gone for weeks and for months,

they would have stayed and they would have kept

praying. And I think I know that because they

knew that the assignment was that important,

that they needed to pray and to keep praying.

And some of you here, your assignment is that

important, all of you. Your assignment is that

important that you need to pray and you need

to keep on praying until you see those promises

of God fulfilled. Today we have to pray in the

waiting. And we also have to worship in the waiting.

Now the disciples knew what worshiping meant.

And by gathering together they were doing various

acts of worship. Now when I say worship, most

of you think of... No one? Yeah, you think of

music, right? Now worship is not... Not that,

but it's not only that. It's not just prayer,

although that is an act of worship. It's not

just that. Worship is an act of devotion. It's

where we put God in his rightful place, acknowledging

his power and his sovereignty. And when we sing

songs and they've got words of praise to God,

absolutely that is worship. But it's just one

kind of worship. And the disciples were worshiping

in many different ways. They're encouraging each

other. They were serving each other. They were

worshiping God in every way that they could in

that home before the Holy Spirit fell on them.

Before it. We were waiting for a miracle. or

our promise to be fulfilled, it can be easy to

slip out of worship. Why serve others when I'm

hurting? Why sing about how good God is when

I don't feel like He is good? But if you want

to see a move in power of the Holy Spirit, then

worship is your weapon. There is peace beyond

understanding when we worship in the waiting.

And we worship when we're not quite there yet.

There's some peace that comes there. Friends,

if we wanna see a move of the Holy Spirit tonight,

I believe we have to pray and we have to worship.

And the last thing we have to do is we have to

come expectant for the Holy Spirit to move. The

disciples don't walk to Jerusalem and then worship.

for over a week straight, without the knowledge,

without the anticipation, without knowing that

Jesus is gonna move. And that when Jesus says

something's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.

Excuse me. They are expectant of God to send

the Holy Spirit. They worship, but knowing that

if God's promised something, He would provide

it. They had seen it for the last three years.

It had been their life. That if Jesus said, this

is gonna happen, then this is gonna happen. And

Jesus has said, pray and the Holy Spirit will

come. So they came expected knowing that the

Holy Spirit would come. And I wanna ask us church,

are we expected for the Holy Spirit to come today?

Do we want the Holy Spirit to come? Because it

was promised to us on 10 days. Before Pentecost,

the Holy Spirit would come and fall upon all

believers. So we can't expect that to happen

even today. Friends, if you have been given a

promise by God, hold on to that promise. Hold

on to that promise because He is a God who fulfills

His promises. Psalm 27 14 says, wait and confidently

expect the Lord. Be strong and let your heart

take courage. Yes, wait confidently. Expect the

Lord. It is joy. It should be our joy to come

to the altar expecting God to move today. It

was God's joy to send Jesus his greatest promise

to us. Friends, He fulfilled right then in that

moment, every promise you could ever need. The

gift of salvation, a free gift given to you by

sending His Son. So church, let's be a church

who expects God to move. I know it's in His timing

and we don't force these kind of things but we

can worship and we can pray and we can seek the

Lord and we can wait on Him expectantly for Him

to move. In Acts 2, the last little bit, it says

they were gathered in a house and a sound like

a rushing wind swept through the house and tongues

of fire came to rest on each one of them. Fire

over their heads, what does that mean? Well,

you need to understand the significance of this

moment. This is not just a pretty cool moment.

Like, I mean, it would be pretty cool if there

were little fires above all your heads right

now as I preached. But it wasn't just a cool

moment. In the Old Testament, when God established

a temple, He uses wind and fire to show this.

When God's presence showed up, by fire in Mount

Sion. He made a covenant with his people and

gave them the Ten Commandments. When the fire

fell and poured on the tabernacle, God's presence

went out to his people. And when Solomon built

the temple, he put a sacrifice and God sent fire

to heaven and the fire filled the temple. And

God's presence was there. So when the tongues

of fire came and rested on their heads, it's

not just about a physical fire to keep them warm,

but rather about God's dwelling place shifting

from the physical temple in Jerusalem to us,

the believers. The Holy Spirit is symbolized

by fire. is poured out upon all believers, empowering

them to speak in different languages, signifying

the church as God's new temple, a community where

God's presence resides. All believers are the

temple of God. In the Old Testament, they needed

a building, and it's lovely to meet in a building,

particularly on a wet winter's day. But this

is not the temple of God. We are the temple of

God. You, if you believe in Jesus, are the temple

of God. And there is power in the presence of

God. If you are the temple and the presence of

God lives in you, then there is power in and

through Jesus, through you. There is the disciples

when the Holy Spirit came, they went out and

they spoke in tongues and they saw 3 ,000 people

come to know the Lord. Do you know that God can

do that here today, in this moment, in this church,

because He can. He can. He wants to move. He

wants to transform your life, to break chains,

to see healing, to see your family and friends

know the love of Jesus. So friends, if God is

so powerful, why don't we wait for Him? Why don't

we long for the power of the Holy Spirit within

our lives? Because this is the power that breaks

chains. We're going to be sent out of this place

tonight, but not without power of the Holy Spirit.

And some of us, we've been trying to do this

in our own strength, this Christian walk in our

own strength. We don't want to wait for Jesus

to show up and to show us what to do and to guide

us and to lead us and to fill us. We just want

to get on with the work. And I get that. I love

that, but also I hate that because there is so

much more power when God comes upon you and you

allow the Holy Spirit to be at work in you. What

we do in the waiting prepares us for the calling

on our lives. I want us to change the world for

God. But I want us to be like the disciples who

wait for the Holy Spirit to empower us to do

it. And the cool thing about where we are today

is the Holy Spirit has been poured out. We don't

have to wait for Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has

already been given to us. We can simply say the

words, Holy Spirit come and watch Him move. Friends,

when you receive the Holy Spirit, it's not for

your enjoyment necessarily, although it is a

wonderful encounter with God. It's actually so

that we can go out into the world proclaiming

the good news, seeing more people come to know

Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. When you prophesy,

you glorify the Father. When you speak in tongues,

you glorify the Father. When you share the good

news of Jesus, you glorify the Father. When we

say, Holy Spirit come, we need to do it for His

glory. And so tonight, I felt like God said,

will you as a church pray? Will you worship?

And will you come expectant for me to move? Because

friends I know there is a lot of you here who

have been given promises from God and you are

in that waiting time. Do not stop praying. Do

not stop worshipping. Do not stop expecting that

God who promised you will fulfill. Thanks so

much for tuning into this week's message. If

you felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love

to hear from you on Instagram at encounterhenley.

Or if you're interested in how you can support

this ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.